Business Reinvention – the Intro

Greg Satell does a great job in his recent post ‘The New Media Value Chain‘ pinning exactly where the media industry currently stands.

Both Greg and I live at the nexus of media, entertainment, & technology and have personally witness the ground shift under our feet. While Greg comes from a traditional media (yet emerging market) background and I’m out to the video space it is certain that we agree on this… those that will thrive going forward will have incorporated business model innovation into their organization’s DNA.

Needless to say this space has already witnessed more than a fair share of major sifts over the last 15 years. Reflect upon the battles fought between incumbents and upstarts in televion, music, physical video rentals, print (newspapers, magazines, books), display advertising… That’s a lot, however, I see no reason why it will cease.

How Do I Know?
I say this because reality shows that tight control over value chains is not longer realistic. Technology has reduced the creation and distribution barriers that one made content scarce. This isn’t just a media reality it’s impacting every business under the sun. The remedy is to be nimble enough to adjust your process to exploit new opportunities. In other word innovation can no longer be looked upon as a ‘special project’ set aside for Tiger Teams.

Here’s the rub, as Greg so eloquently notes, business model innovation requires trial and error, and the ability to absorb many microfailures… in his words it’s “crappy”. And, currently most businesses don’t embrace those who repeatedly take a ding because they stepped out on a limb to help advance the business.

Salvation
I want to arm you with the ability to develop some of that ‘crappy innovation’ with less painful dings, or at least help you advance the conversation. That’s why I want to kick-off off a Business Model Innovation Process series.